The Eavesdropper
by phantomstimeturner
Summary: Sake. I'm bad at descriptions. One-shot.


Sam shivered a little as she walked into the barn. It was a cold February night, and she wasn't dressed for the weather, but she would only be outside for a couple minutes. All she needed was a visit with Ace.

The horse she _really_ wanted to see was the Phantom, but that wasn't an option right now. Dinner would be ready soon; there was no time to sneak off. Though missing him felt like a hole in her chest, Sam knew she couldn't try.

She walked down the stall aisle, petting the nose of each horse as she went. There were more horses in the barn than usual- a massive snowstorm had knocked some fences and made the pastures inhabitable- but there was one horse that _really_ didn't belong. Witch, Jake Ely's angry Quarter Horse, was currently being housed there too. Sam avoided that stall, not wanting to be bitten. Again.

 _Typical Jake,_ Sam thought. _He's got a perfectly good driver's license, but he still always takes the horse._

Sam didn't want to think about Jake right now. She shook her head and kept walking.

Ace was in a stall towards the end, and he had his nose stuck out, waiting for her. She couldn't help smiling, even though she had to admit she wasn't doing so hot, emotionally. He could always make her feel better, even if he wasn't the horse she really wanted to see.

She scratched his chin and pressed her cheek to his. "Ace, Ace, Ace, I'm a mess," she crooned. "I'm so confused! I don't know what to do!"

His chocolate-brown eyes peered into hers, seeming to ask her to say more.

"It just doesn't make _sense?"_ she continued. "Ace, do you think it does?"

He just tilted his head.

"What if Jen's right?" Sam worried under her breath. "What if I do…?"

She looked away. She couldn't say it. Ace nudged her arm, a little worried, but she stroked his nice. "I'm fine, buddy."

"What if…I like Jake?"

It felt so strange to say it out loud, to acknowledge that those feelings might actually exist. It was Jen (ugh, Jen) who had put the idea in her head, and since then, it had been bothering her. She _couldn't_ like Jake. He called her 'Brat'! How could she love someone who called her Brat?

"I probably don't," she muttered to herself. "She must be wrong."

 _But what if she's not?_ The unspoken question hung in the air like thick fog, making Sam shake her head even more.

She closed her eyes and tried to think. _Could_ it be true? Didn't she like being with Jake, didn't he always make her happy? And yes, she admitted he was attractive, but that was just _facts._ The world was round, the sky was blue, and Jake Ely was hot _as hell._

"Dig deeper," she said aloud, pretending the advice was from a friend, not her dumb self. What would Jen, or even Jake himself say about this? "How do you know if you're in love with someone?"

Without her meaning to, Jake's face popped into her head. She smiled, picturing his dark hair and mustang eyes. Her Jake. Didn't she feel butterflies in her stomach whenever he was around? What would it be like to kiss him, or-

Her eyes snapped open and a guilty blush flooded her cheeks. Okay, maybe she did like Jake. Maybe she'd like him for a long time, and been in denial about it. But it was real now, almost painfully so, and she had no idea what she was going to do.

Right now, the only thing to do seemed to be burying her face in Ace's mane. She did that, and felt a little better, but still, this was _bad._ This was _Jake_ she was talking about, and he wasn't into that kind of stuff. She'd never known him to like _any_ girl, much less her. She was probably just like a little sister to him.

Ace whickered gently, and Sam lifted her head. "I don't know what to do," she whispered. "It's way worse than I thought. I think…I think I'm going to have a broken heart. I think…I love Jake."

Admitting it was a huge relief. With that off her chest, she felt lots better, and suddenly, she shivered. Finally, the cold was catching up to her. What had she been thinking, dressing this lightly in February? But it was time to go in, anyway. She'd said she'd only be gone for only a minute, and it had been much longer than that.

Hugging herself, she made her way back to the house. Her feet felt numb, and even with her light gloves, her fingers were stiff and cold. This visit to the barn had _definitely_ not been worth it.

"Cold, cold, cold," she muttered, teeth chattering a little. It was irritating how easy she was to distract. If she hadn't started stressing about her love life, she would've noticed the cold much earlier.

And suddenly she hit a wall- well, no, not a wall, because it was warm and didn't hurt that much. She looked up, expecting to see her dad, since she _had_ been gone for too long and he _was_ the type to come looking for her. But no, there stood Jake Ely, in the flesh.

Sam hopped backwards quickly. "Um. Hey Jake."

"Hey Brat." He rubbed the back of his neck, the way he always did when he was embarrassed, or nervous, or just plain uncomfortable. "What are you doin' here?"

"Just…seeing Ace," she said quickly, pointing back towards his stall. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He gestured to the stall they were standing in front. "Cleaning out Witch's stall. She trampled it pretty bad."

All the color drained from Sam's face. "How…how long have you been here?"

He shrugged. "Maybe 'bout…ten minutes? Why?"

She gasped. "You were listening! Weren't you?"

His eyebrows knit together, confused. "I don't know what you're-"

"Don't try to deny it!" she cried, suddenly defensive. "You heard, I know you did!"

"Heard _what?"_ he demanded.

"Heard me telling Ace I'm in love with you!" Sam exploded.

There was silence for a moment, until Jake found the words and the courage to break it. "You… _love_ me?"

"What- no. Ja- I-"Sam attempted to stammer out. "I didn't really mean- damn, I really blew it, didn't I."

Jake took a step toward her. "Sam, I-"

And she bolted.

Sam didn't know where to go, or what she hoped to accomplish, but she knew there was an empty stall on the far end. As she ran, her breath came in rapid, panicked bursts and tears pricked at her eyes. Her riding boots slipped a little on the ground, but she didn't care. All that mattered was getting away.

She ran down the aisle and got the door open as quickly as she could, not slowing down when she got a splinter in her finger. Jake was going to follow her, and the last thing she wanted was to have "that" conversation with him. It was too fresh of a wound to bring up now, after she'd already made a fool of herself in front of him.

The stall was clean, at least. Sam let herself sink down into the sweet-smelling straw. It wasn't a good hiding place, but then, there was probably no place she could go where Jake would never find her. He was too good, and she cared too much to hide forever anyway.

Just a couple minutes. Maybe an hour. Then she'd be ready.

Right now, all she needed was a good cry and, more than ever, her Phantom. The latter was nowhere near, but nothing was stopping her from crying her eyes out. She sniffled quietly and let the tears roll out, warming her near-frozen cheeks.

A couple minutes later, she heard pounding footsteps coming toward her. Jake must have finally put together what she had said and was coming for her. Sam took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before he got there. This was going to be embarrassing enough without her looking like a train wreck, but there was nothing she could do about her puffy red face.

 _You can do this,_ she told herself, wishing she could believe it. _You're Samantha Freakin' Forster! Don't tell me you're afraid of one little talk!_

She couldn't believe it, because it wasn't true. She was terrified.

"Brat?" She heard Jake's soft voice outside the stall. "Brat, please, talk to me."

"In here."

Her voice came out much quieter than she'd intended, but she knew Jake heard it. The gate opened and he sat down next to her, eyes wide and expression neutral. "Geez, Brat, you run fast. Why'd you do that?"

"I didn't want to hear what you were going to say," she said calmly, or at least as calm as a girl on the edge of heartbreak can be. Telling someone you liked them, whether you meant to or not, was like giving them your heart and a chisel. Jake had all the power now.

In the dim light, his expression was hard to read. "Then why'd you say it?"

"I didn't mean to!" she cried, voice cracking with wanting to cry again. She had it under control, but not for long. "It was a mistake, I shouldn't have said it."

"What I don't understand is why you said it at all." Jake was getting into long sentences now; this was serious. "I don't know why you let me think for a few minutes that there was a chance you actually…"

Sam stared at him. She blinked a couple times. "Jake, if I didn't know better, I would say you _want_ me to have a crush on you."

"Well, maybe I do!" he snapped. "Next time you want to pull a stupid prank, you should think about that!"

Her brown eyes widened. "That wasn't a _prank!_ That was just…me and my big mouth. I didn't want to say it, thought you were gonna say I'm like a little sister to you, and we could never be…like that."

Their eyes met. "I don't," Jake said quietly, "Think you're a little sister to me. You're my best friend, but that don't mean I'm not in love with you. Have been for a while, actually."

Her heart pounded. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything at all. It was good enough to throw her arms around him, and feel like she could breathe again. He was surprised at first, but he got over it pretty fast, putting one arm around Sam's shoulders. No words were needed for this moment.

"My dad's gonna kill me," Sam mumbled. Her voice was muffled on account of her face being buried in solid Jake. "And he'll be mad at you too."

"Let him," Jake said confidently. "You're fifteen. Old enough for a boyfriend."

She grinned slyly. "So…you consider yourself my boyfriend already?"

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well I mean…if ya want me…"

She laughed. "Aw, you're so cute. Of course I want you."

He gave her a friendly punch on the arm. "You really are a brat."

"You have to say it!" she threatened in a singsong voice. "Admit that you're my boyfriend."

"I can take back that offer at any time," he said threateningly.

Sam laughed and, without thinking, leaned forward for a kiss. Cheeks flushed, she backed away quickly, but Jake didn't look mad, or even traumatized, just a little surprised. He didn't think today would be that lucky.

And then there was his lazy tomcat grin- the one Sam had been seeing all her life. "Well, Brat, I didn't think you had it in you."

And then he kissed her again, full on the mouth.

Sam kissed him back, trying to memorize everything about this one moment. Things couldn't be more perfect. She was back home where she belonged, her crush liked her back, and her feet didn't even feel cold anymore. Luck like this didn't happen often.

"SAMANTHA ANN FORSTER!"

Sam froze as she saw her dad, standing right outside the stall. He looked furious. She blushed rapidly and snuck a peek at Jake. He didn't seem worried about getting into trouble, but Jake was harder to faze.

"Three, two, one," he whispered. On "one", he jumped up and grabbed Sam's hand, then bolting away from Wyatt and outside.

Sam was aware of the consequences, of how angry her dad was going to be, but right now she cared much more about the boy by her side than anything else.


End file.
